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Tea Party on Budget & Economy
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2009: Tea Party sparked by opposing mortgage bailout
On February 19, 2009, from the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, CNBC television reporter Rick Santelli burst into a tirade against the Obama Administration's nascent foreclosure relief plan: "The government is rewarding bad behavior!"
Santelli shouted. He invited America's "capitalists" to a "Chicago Tea Party" to protest measures to "subsidize the losers' mortgages." Video of the Santelli rant quickly scaled the media pyramid.
The rant headlined the "Drudge Report" and was widely re-televised. Anyone who hadn't caught Santelli's original outburst could hardly miss the constant replays and escalating responses.Across the country, disgruntled conservatives perked up.
The "Tea Party" symbolism was a perfect rallying point since it brings to mind the original American colonial rebels opposing tyranny by tossing chests of tea into Boston Harbor.
Source: The Remaking of Republican Conservatism, p. 7
, Jan 2, 2012
Economic pessimism: Great Recession part of downward spiral
Journalists and academics have speculated that the Tea Party must be a response to the Great Recession that gathered force starting in 2008. The coincidence of popular protests with plunging economic indicators makes this seem plausible.
For Tea Partiers, however, pessimism about the economy is politically tinged. Tea Partiers who started organizing in 2009 got an extra prod from the downward-spiraling economy [but] Tea Partiers do not come from the groups that have borne the brunt of
the recent US economic crisis.Though members of the Tea Party do not bear the heaviest economic burden, they do have some of the most negative views of the economy, and their worries bleed into broader fears. Overall, fewer than half of
Americans said that good jobs are a thing of the past. But for members of the Tea Party, it felt as though the fundamentalist rules about the American Dream had changed. Working hard no longer meant getting ahead.
Source: The Remaking of Republican Conservatism, p. 29-30
, Jan 2, 2012
Don't raise debt limit; already facing economic Armageddon
One group was discussing the debt limit. With little angst, they agreed it should not be raised--and planned to pressure their Congressional representatives accordingly. In the summer of 2011, national surveys showed that Tea Party sympathizers were
especially likely to oppose raising the federal debt limit, despite the financial crisis that might follow. Tea Partiers believe that the US already faces economic Armageddon, so a further step in that direction does not provoke much concern.
Source: The Remaking of Republican Conservatism, p.180
, Jan 2, 2012
Budget woes more about coming collapse than redistribution
Tea Partiers speak constantly about an out-of-control federal budget deficit and the coming doom they think it portends for the US. There is real-world basis for worrying about the US fiscal situation, of course, though the US is in reasonably good
fiscal shape, as the steady health of the bond market attests. Tea Party worries about national debt therefore refer to real problems, but magnify them out of all proportion. Why? As we have learned, Tea Partiers are concerned that US deficits might be
addressed in part with tax hikes, which they imagine would require people like them to help pay for social spending that benefits undeserving freeloaders. But the fiscal question in the Tea Party imagination is more than just a redistributive matter,
more than just a set of worries about taxes and social spending. In the highly emotional telling of many Tea Partiers, the ballooning federal deficit merges into a general sense of a coming collapse for America.
Source: The Remaking of Republican Conservatism, p. 76-77
, Jan 2, 2012
Tea Party made all politicians look seriously at $15T debt
The Tea Party has done a great service to the United States. They have made all politicians look seriously at what's wrong with our country, including America's $15 trillion of debt.The media continuously bash the Tea Party.
Nothing could be more unfair. The press constantly maligns, ridicules, and mocks the Tea Party folks. The fact is the Tea Party is made up of great citizens of this country.
And in the end, I think the Tea Party patriots will get the last laugh because they will go down as having done more to change the country than any other group.
They are terrific people, great Americans, and I am proud to have such a good relationship with them.
Source: Time to Get Tough, by Donald Trump, p.187
, Dec 5, 2011
Tea Party movement reborn based on massive 2008 bailout
A few free-market [advocates in 2008] felt remarkably isolated in their efforts to stop the massive government bailout. Many on Capitol Hill used flawed logic to support this giant government power grab: We must do something to address this crisis.
This legislation is something; therefore, we must do this.On Sept. 29, we gathered to watch the final deliberations on the House floor. We were as surprised as anyone that the House bill failed, 228-205, with 133 Republicans voting against their
president.
In retrospect, Sept. 29 is clearly the day the Tea Party movement was reborn in America. There was a massive wave of spontaneous grassroots outrage that rose up against the government's proposed actions, temporarily taking back the people's
house from the political elite. We were told by our allies who work in Congress that constituent communications were 100-1 against the Paulson Plan. While the bill would ultimately pass, it had stirred the passion of the grassroots freedom movement.
Source: Give Us Liberty, by Rep. Dick Armey, p. 53-55&62-63
, Aug 17, 2010
When times are tough, government should make do with less
In Feb. 2009, people were publicly demanding accountability from the elected leaders. To those who were paying attention, a clear theme had emerged. Fellow citizens across the country live on budgets. When times are tough, they make do with less. They
expect their government to do the same.In 2000 the US national debt stood at $5.6 trillion. By 2008 that amount had nearly doubled to $10 trillion, which translates to more than $85,000 per household. By 2018 the deficit is projected at $18 trillion.
Source: Give Us Liberty, by Rep. Dick Armey, p. 17-18
, Aug 17, 2010
Bush's Wall Street bailout ignited Tea Party firestorm
To fit their inaccurate narrative of the Tea Party movement as sore-loser partisans opposed to Obama's agenda, the media suggests the Democrats' stimulus bill was the spark that lit the grass fire of protest.They're wrong. The government expansion
during Bush's reign provided the fuel. And it was his Wall Street bailout that ignited the firestorm we see today.
As the Democratic Congress pushed through the Bush's bill, our predicament became crystal clear: We the people had lost control of our
government. It was now the political class versus the American tax-payers.
Some thought they were voting to change this situation with Obama. But he has doubled down the bad policies of the Bush administration in favor of the political class.
Many of us knew instinctually the bailout was wrong. We got it--our instincts were right. Unfortunately, many of the 535 people we sent to Congress didn't seem to get it. And they certainly haven't accepted their responsibility for creating the problem.
Source: Give Us Liberty, by Rep. Dick Armey, p. 37-38
, Aug 17, 2010
Movement born in objection to stimulus plan
On Sept. 29, 2008, we gathered to watch the final [Treasury Secretary Paulson spending plan] plan deliberations on the House floor. We were a surprised as anyone that the House bill failed.
Against all of our expectations, at 2:07 P.M., the first legislation was defeated 228-205, with 133 Republicans voting against their president.
In retrospect, September 29 is clearly the day the Tea Party movement was reborn in America.
There was a massive wave of spontaneous grassroots outrage that rose up against the government's proposed actions, temporarily taking back the people's house from the political elite.
The citizens of America--for a few days at least--took their country back. We were told by our allies who work in Congress that constituent communications were 100 to 1 against the Paulson Plan.
Source: Give Us Liberty, by Rep. Dick Armey, p. 78-79
, Aug 17, 2010
Page last updated: Apr 28, 2013
